(3) WHEN IN VROME. John King Tarpinian and I joined the throngs at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena tonight to hear the wisdom and humor of John Scalzi and Cory Doctorow, and get them to sign copies of their new novels The Collapsing Empire and Walkaway.

A bonus arriving with the expected duo was Amber Benson, once part of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, now a novelist and comics writer, who also voiced the audiobook of Scalzi’s Lock-In.

Amber Benson, John Scalzi, and Cory Doctorow.

Amber Benson, John Scalzi, and Cory Doctorow. Photos by John King Tarpinian.

A “catastrophic puppeteer injury” wouldn’t mean the beginning of an award-winning career for most people—but Mary Robinette Kowal is a different sort of someone.

… Thus began 25 years as a professional puppeteer. Kowal toured the country with a number of shows, including another production of “Little Shop of Horrors” (she’s been a puppeteer for seven “Little Shop” productions). While helping again to bring killer plant Audrey II to life, Kowal popped a ligament in her right wrist.

For most, a bum wrist is an annoyance. But for a puppeteer, it’s a catastrophic career interruption.

(5) THE CHOW OF YOUR DREAMS. Scott Edelman is back with a new Eating the Fantastic podcast.

Actually, this one’s going up a little early. I’d normally have posted it Friday — but since I’ll be at StokerCon then, where I will either win my first Bram Stoker Award or lose my seventh, thereby becoming the Susan Lucci of the HWA — I figured I’d better get it live now so I had no distractions while aboard the Queen Mary.

I was glad to be able to return for a meal with K.M. Szpara, who has published short fiction in Lightspeed, Shimmer, Glittership, and other magazines, and has recently completed his first novel. He edited the acclaimed anthology Transcendant: The Year’s Best Transgender Speculative Fiction, about which Kirkus wrote that it “challenges readers’ expectations in ways that few have managed to do before.”

Listen in and learn about his formative years writing Hanson and Harry Potter fanfic, which darlings he had to kill to complete his first novel, why rewrites are like giving a floofy poodle a haircut, what he didn’t know about short stories when he began to write them, the many ways conventions are like big sleepovers, the reason he was able to eat one of George R. R. Martin’s dragon eggs, and more.

From the “never a good sign” department, NBC has abruptly pulled the DC comics-tinged comedy series Powerless from the prime-time schedule, without any word on when the remaining episodes may air. The show, which starred Vanessa Hudgens, Alan Tudyk, Danny Pudi and Christina Kirk, struggled to find an audience from the start, despite the success of comics-based series of late.

(7) I WAKE UP STREAMING. Although NBC is shoveling a DC flop off its schedule, Warner Bros. is launching an entire service built around DC Comics properties.

The DC-branded direct-to-consumer digital platform, in the works for the past several months, marks the second major new service launched by Warner Bros Digital Networks — the division started last year with the mandate of building WB-owned digital and OTT video services — following the recently introduced animation-driven Boomerang. The DC-branded platform is expected to offer more than a traditional OTT service; it is designed as an immersive experience with fan interaction and will encompass comics as well as TV series.

The first episode of Star Trek premiered 50 years ago, and the beloved sci-fi franchise is now scheduled to return to television in 2017 with a new series on Netflix and CBS — or more specifically, on CBS All Access, the network’s new stand-alone streaming service.

CBS unveiled the first teaser for its new Star Trek series in early 2016, and the show’s official title was revealed to be Star Trek: Discovery during Comic-Con International in San Diego in summer 2016. With the latest movie (Star Trek Beyond) in theaters this past summer, many Star Trek fans are wondering exactly how the television series from executive producer Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies) and showrunners Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts (Pushing Daisies) will fit into the framework of the sci-fi franchise as it exists now.

Star Trek: Discovery was originally slated for a January release, but the network subsequently pushed the premiere date back to an unspecified date in mid- or late 2017. Here’s everything else we know about the series so far….

First developed by Disney back in the nineties, the story sees an assassin forced into battle with his ultimate opponent: a younger clone of himself. Tony Scott was previously set to helm Disney’s take, based on a pitch by Darren Lemke. Several writers have taken a pass at the project over the years, including David Benioff, Brian Helgeland, and Andrew Niccol.

(11) LEFT ON. The London Review of Books’ Russian Revolution book review includes China Miéville: “What’s Left?”

…That person, as it turns out, is China Miéville, best known as a science fiction man of leftist sympathies whose fiction is self-described as ‘weird’. Miéville is not a historian, though he has done his homework, and his October is not at all weird, but elegantly constructed and unexpectedly moving. What he sets out to do, and admirably succeeds in doing, is to write an exciting story of 1917 for those who are sympathetically inclined to revolution in general and to the Bolsheviks’ revolution in particular. To be sure, Miéville, like everyone else, concedes that it all ended in tears because, given the failure of revolution elsewhere and the prematurity of Russia’s revolution, the historical outcome was ‘Stalinism: a police state of paranoia, cruelty, murder and kitsch’. But that hasn’t made him give up on revolutions, even if his hopes are expressed in extremely qualified form. The world’s first socialist revolution deserves celebration, he writes, because ‘things changed once, and they might do so again’ (how’s that for a really minimal claim?). ‘Liberty’s dim light’ shone briefly, even if ‘what might have been a sunrise [turned out to be] a sunset.’ But it could have been otherwise with the Russian Revolution, and ‘if its sentences are still unfinished, it is up to us to finish them.’

(12) ALT-MARKETING. Most of you know that two weeks ago Monica Valentinelli refused to continue as Odyssey Con GoH after discovering the committee not only still included a harasser she’d encountered before (their Guest Liaison!), but she was going to be scheduled together with him on a panel, and then, when she raised these issues, the first response she received from someone on the committee was a defense of the man involved. The con’s other two GoHs endorsed her decision and followed her out the door.

Normal people responded to that sad situation by commiserating with the ex-GoHs, and mourning Odyssey Con’s confused loyalties. Jon Del Arroz set to work turning it into a book marketing opportunity.

A couple of weeks ago, an invited headlining guest flaked on a convention, OdysseyCon. No notice was given, no accommodations were asked for, simply bailing two weeks before it happened, leaving the fans without an honored guest. The Con responded professionally and nicely, trying to work things out as much as possible, but that wasn’t enough for this person who took to social media, and got a cabal of angry virtue signallers to start swearing, berating and attacking anyone they could.

Then he showed his empathy by arranging a book bundle with the works of Nick Cole, Declan Finn, Marina Fontaine, Robert Kroese, L. Jagi Lamplighter, John C. Wright (“nominated for more Hugo Awards in one year than any person alive”), himself, plus the Forbidden Thoughts anthology, Flyers will be handed to attendees at next weekend’s con telling them how to access the books.

Because Jon evidently feels someone needs to be punished for the unprofessionalism of that guest. After the fans at Odyssey Con read those books, they can tell us who they think he punished.

After the fifth inning, the team debuted a new feature on PNC Park’s renovated digital scoreboard, which runs the length of the Clemente Wall in right field: “Super Bucco Run.”

Inspired by the hit mobile game, the Pirates had one of their fans running and “bashing” blocks while “collecting” coins and items on the scoreboard. Keeping with the tradition, the flag went up the pole at the end of the segment when the fan completed the challenge….

It was a genius bit of mid-game entertainment that the Pirates plan to rotate with more videoboard games throughout the 2017 season. Over the offseason, they updated the old scoreboard with an 11-foot high and 136-foot long LED board with features like this in mind….

The silver rocket on a base follows the exact specifications laid out for the Hugo award trophies which means that someone did their research on how to fake a Hugo. However, it does not MATCH any of the Hugo Award trophies that actually exist, which means someone did even more research to make sure they weren’t exactly copying one.

[Thanks to JJ, rcade, Stephen Burridge, Martin Morse Wooster, Jon Del Arroz, Carl Slaughter, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day rcade.]

196 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 4/25/17 If All You Have Is A Pixel, Every Problem Looks Like A Scroll.”

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“Albright defended sanctions in 1996. So did Halladay. In fact, Halladay became the U.N. coordinator in Iraq in 1997, after Albright’s interview. Halladay didn’t resign until 1998.

How is Halladay more admirable again?”

You do not think whistleblowing is admirable? Sacrificing your career for others sake? And you do not see a difference in that Albright never said that the genocidal sanctions were the wrong thing to do? Still haven’t?

Halladay had an enormous effect by gathering public opinion from all over the world, putting pressure on the US and creating acceptance for the countries that broke the genocidal sanctions by sending repair equipment and medicine anyhow.

That happened before Halladay resigned, in 1996, when the Oil for Food program was implemented. Halladay didn’t resign until 1998.

The sanctions didn’t end until 2003, after Hussein had been forced from power. Hallday’s resignation (and von Sponeck and Burghardt’s) had almost no effect on ending the sanctions. Some of the sanctions remained in place until 2010.

Like I said, it is clear that you have no idea what you are talking about.

You do not think whistleblowing is admirable? Sacrificing your career for others sake?

He was fine with sanctions for years. In his role at the U.N. he participated in creating and enforcing them. He went along with Albright’s stance in 1996, and only resigned two years later. Your claim that this was some sort of moral high point is dubious at best. All it really did was remove him from a position to do anything useful, and had no real effect on the sanctions themselves.

One might also point out that the “half a million” figure is questionable at best, which makes the value of the “whistleblowing” less than convincing as well.

Sure is a whole lot of political comments for a blog that’s supposed to be about sci-fi.

Regarding #12 – one thing I haven’t heard is any actual evidence to support the allegations. There is that pesky “innocent until proven guilty” thingy we have here in the U.S. Otherwise, I could allege the writer of this blog is anything I want to allege him to be and – given the way you all think here – he’d have to be run out of town just because someone alleged it.

I’ll wait until there is proof before I condemn someone. Such as the allegation that Mr. Arroz supports harassment. I see no evidence that he thinks sexual harassment is okay. All I see is a man looking to support sci-fi fans. That he did what any good business person would do – recognize an opportunity to market his product to people who otherwise might not know about him or his book – is not a crime either.

So lighten up people. Quit trying, as this writer here put it, get revenge for being born.

“That happened before Halladay resigned, in 1996, when the Oil for Food program was implemented. Halladay didn’t resign until 1998.”

Ah, no. The propaganda at that time was that the Oil for Food program solved all the problems. Halladay who took the position after being told that could see for himself that it was untrue. And that is why he resigned. As did his successor Hans Von Sponeck who said it was still genocide.

And yes, their protests had a great effect in that sanctions stopped existing in practice long before 2003. Which was most likely one of the reasons why US thought an invasion was a good thing. And even before that, their protests helped making changes in the program in what was allowed to be imported.

The propaganda at that time was that the Oil for Food program solved all the problems.

No, it was not. The message was that the program ameliorated the effects of the sanctions, not eliminated them. And you still haven’t answered how Albright was terrible for saying something in 1996 that Halladay went along with for two years (and von Sponeck went along with for longer), but both Hallday and von Sponeck have clean hands. You are awfully selective in who you attack for complicity in a program that Albright had no hand in creating (but which Hallday and von Sponeck were in office at the outset for).

And yes, their protests had a great effect in that sanctions stopped existing in practice long before 2003.

No, they did not. In fact, their protests had essentially no effect on the sanctions. You want to believe their protests were a big deal, because you want symbolic actions to matter more than they do, but every report available shows that the sanctions were in effect as much as ever right up through Hussein being deposed.

@Hampus Eckerman: The song is not. They’re a great minor band who always get me off and have nearly killed me twice when Lee jumped into the crowd with his guitar.

The routine is moderately well-known. The Firesign Theatre is arguably the most important thing in “radio theater” (I mean, after the first few years, it was strictly on record or occasionally on stage, except for the occasionally bone thrown to them by NPR) since it stopped existing. That’s the first cut on their first record, which is a work of genius.

It also has some stereotyping quite typical of the mid-sixties. Problematic but great.

I think “Giant Rat of Sumatra” was the last Firesign Theatre album I heard on radio before amassing the necessary $2.50 to own it. I expect there would have been more if KFML hadn’t gone bust. KFML’s predecessor, KMYR, is where I first heard “Waiting for the Electrician.” KFML also hosted a livecast by Proctor & Bergman out of Boulder’s Ebbets Field venue (which was simulcast on KPFK). I recorded it off the air, but have even fonder memories of Pete and Phil chatting with the KFML announcers before the show. When one of them coughed, he excused himself as having a rare tropical disease. A minute later, the announcer coughed, and they said, “I see you’re coming down with it too!”

The people yelling for Hillary’s scalp are insisting that because they really really dislike her, she must be guilty of something. The people who want Flynn prosecuted want the rule of law applied. There’s a difference, and it’s not merely ideological disagreement.

Most of the people in my social circle calling for charges against Mrs. Clinton do so because her actions were violations of US law. Had a lowly NCO in the US military acted with a small fraction of her disregard for those laws, per would have been given a bad conduct discharge, stripped of their security clearance, and tossed in a federal prison for a couple decades.

So yes, the “rule of law” was undermined by an administrative decision not charge her with those crimes.

None of that is to suggest that Gen. Flynn ought to be similarly treated with kid gloves. I was (and remain) against Gen. Petraeus being appointed to any position requiring access to classified information for similar reasons. He is one of our nation’s most accomplished generals to whom we owe a great debt of gratitude, but his past actions mean that he must not be given access to sensitive information.

I see this discussion has fully equipped you to come visit us in the South and suggest we just might possibly still have some minor issues with racial prejudice.

@Dann:

Most of the people in my social circle calling for charges against Mrs. Clinton do so because her actions were violations of US law. Had a lowly NCO in the US military acted with a small fraction of her disregard for those laws, per would have been given a bad conduct discharge, stripped of their security clearance, and tossed in a federal prison for a couple decades.

While you considerably overstate the case, you aren’t making it up out of thin air, either.

I’d add is that Hillary wasn’t the only bad actor of that sort who had sufficient power and prestige to dodge that bullet, while the “lowly NCO” gets beat up for it. Her acts were considerably less egregious than, say, Petraeus’s. He deliberately, intentionally shared classified information in the course of committing adultery. She took a bad risk.

I suspect this explains why Comey made his statements as he did. He’s not rolling over for Trump, either. But that Hillary has political PTSD from thirty-plus years of being targeted for destruction by well-funded filth doesn’t excuse her that. If you are a public figure, you have to be able to endure.

I didn’t think of her as being “vetted” (as though citizens need someone’s approval before they’re allowed to vote for the candidate of their choice) or “tested”, but that she didn’t feel their blows, and the dangers that lay behind them, because she was a punch-drunk fighter who wouldn’t give up. I admire that in her.

Had a lowly NCO in the US military acted with a small fraction of her disregard for those laws, per would have been given a bad conduct discharge, stripped of their security clearance, and tossed in a federal prison for a couple decades.

Most of the people in my social circle calling for charges against Mrs. Clinton do so because her actions were violations of US law. Had a lowly NCO in the US military acted with a small fraction of her disregard for those laws, per would have been given a bad conduct discharge, stripped of their security clearance, and tossed in a federal prison for a couple decades.

Your social circle loves to say that, but it just never seems to hold up when the details are examined.

My point is that relative to this one issue, it has nothing to do with “hating Hillary” and everything to do with our experiences with the consequences (primarily observed consequences) of mishandling classified information. I don’t trust Hillary with much of anything for a laundry list of reasons, but on this issue, the criticism has been pretty specific.

Unless you’ve been rummaging in my social media feeds, that assertion is pretty hard to disprove.

@Aaron

And almost every example in that article is a very senior official being treated with kid gloves. Apples and oranges, IMHO. Even in that context, Mrs. Clinton got off exceedingly light. At the least should have been charged with a felony that could be negotiated down to a misdemeanor.

My point is that relative to this one issue, it has nothing to do with “hating Hillary” and everything to do with our experiences with the consequences (primarily observed consequences) of mishandling classified information.

My observations say otherwise. Despite investigation after investigation by people who genuinely wanted to find damning evidence but came up dry, and legal experts pointing out that there’s no there there, the insistence with Clinton is regularly that this* is an offense that would have sent anyone else to prison except for all the people who did more than that and didn’t.

And I continue to think that when people try to deflect from stuff on the other side where investigations are either not happening or being badly impeded, and where legal experts point out that there’s a there full of there by pointing at Clinton and saying that she should be in jail, they’re not arguing for the rule of law, they’re arguing for a massive double standard in the favor of the side they like.

@Hampus Eckerman: “Bless your heart” is used all over the country, but it’s thought of as a southern expression, at least in the south. Here’s one of my favorite musicians from a show that kind of changed my life for the better, known among fans as the “Bless Your Heart” show:

Sure is a whole lot of political comments for a blog that’s supposed to be about sci-fi.

It’s a long eternity – we tend to discuss a variety of subjects. This particular political digression isn’t usual, though. But you should stick around and participate in some of the SFF-related discussions.

I’ll wait until there is proof before I condemn someone. Such as the allegation that Mr. Arroz supports harassment. I see no evidence that he thinks sexual harassment is okay.

It sounds like you aren’t aware of the context (which is somewhat justifiable, as Arroz didn’t give much at all).

Context: The guest of honor who canceled her appearance had been harassed in the past by one of the people involved in the con (he has been accused of several instances of harassment, some prolonged, and has been banned from another convention in his hometown). When the con downplayed* her concerns about having to work with her harasser, she dropped out, as did a couple other guests of honor.

Knowing the context, and given that
1) Arroz did not mention the reason why she dropped out of the con, and why the con subsequently lost more guests of honor, and
2) Arroz accused the GoH of “flaking,” and
3) Arroz stated an outright falsehood when he said “no notice was given, no accommodations were asked for [by the guest of honor],” and
4) ignored the facts by claiming that the con “responded professionally and nicely, trying to work things out as much as possible.” despite the con having apologized for their handling of the situation, as it was neither professional nor nice…

The inevitable conclusion, assuming Arroz is actually aware of what happened, is that Arroz does not consider sexual harassment a big deal. He doesn’t consider not wanting to work with your harasser adequate reason to cancel an appearance. He may not be setting up any charities to support sexual harassment, but he is happy to demonize victims. So while the claim that he supports harassment is somewhat hyperbolic, it’s not unfair. It is definitely true that Arroz supports people who support harassers.

* Downplayed is something of an understatement, but this is already a lot of typing for a situation that can be easily understood via a google search or two.

“. Here’s one of my favorite musicians from a show that kind of changed my life for the better, known among fans as the “Bless Your Heart” show:”

One thing I noticed 10 years ago or so is that there are a lot of american musicians and bands I’ve never heard of because they never really travelled to Europe. US is big enough country for a medium size band to survive anyhow (or maybe they haven’t got that much choice.

And almost every example in that article is a very senior official being treated with kid gloves. Apples and oranges, IMHO.

Might I direct you to the sentence in the article that states: “It’s not uncommon for workers with access to classified material to mishandle it, and by far the bulk of those cases don’t attract the attention of federal prosecutors.” The cases presented were unusual in that there was any prosecution, not that they were handled with kid gloves.

Even in that context, Mrs. Clinton got off exceedingly light. At the least should have been charged with a felony that could be negotiated down to a misdemeanor.

None of the cases listed, all of which involved substantially more egregious violations, were prosecuted as felonies. Why would you think that a felony charge would be appropriate in Clinton’s case when it was not in any of the ones presented? In most cases similar to Clinton’s, no one is charged with any crime, and the most that happens is administrative discipline.

I’ll wait until there is proof before I condemn someone. Such as the allegation that Mr. Arroz supports harassment. I see no evidence that he thinks sexual harassment is okay. All I see is a man looking to support sci-fi fans.

If that’s all you see, you didn’t make an effort to learn the situation. Del Arroz is lying to people in his blog post touting the book giveaway. It’s not just an effort to help fans. It’s an attack on Monica Valentinelli and people who’ve spoken up to support her.

I’m curious if all of those authors know that del Arroz is not telling the truth when he describes the conflict between Valentinelli and Odyssey Con. Their participation in this stunt makes them look bad.

Regarding #12 – one thing I haven’t heard is any actual evidence to support the allegations.

Which allegations? That OdysseyCon had a known harasser on its concom? That del Arroz’s version of events was hopelessly skewed?

Such as the allegation that Mr. Arroz supports harassment. I see no evidence that he thinks sexual harassment is okay.

Oh, I’m sure he doesn’t actively *support* harassment. He just does a fine job of dismissing the concerns of people who feel harassed, alters facts in order to make those who are trying to defend a harasser look better, and blame the victims of harassment and those who support them for abandoning the “loyal fans”.

Of the above, there is ample evidence, and I think it’s sufficient to argue that Mr. Arroz doesn’t particularly care about harassment, and certainly prioritizes other things *far* above it.

All I see is a man looking to support sci-fi fans. That he did what any good business person would do – recognize an opportunity to market his product to people who otherwise might not know about him or his book – is not a crime either.

No, it’s not. It is, however, *tacky* to use false reporting (describing Monica Valentinelli as “flaking”, for example) in order to present yourself as doing something noble when, in fact, you are simply marketing.

Combining this with the hilarious “as star-studded a list…” (to paraphrase) is just the icing on the cake.

So, no; someone tries to market off a con’s bad behavior by backing them up, taking their side, and claiming it’s “for the fans”? Not lightening up.

(And if I were OdysseyCon, I’m not sure I’d want people arguing the case for their “innocence” so badly, as it will not reflect well on *them*.)

@Hampus Eckerman: I don’t think Patterson has ever done a solo European tour, but Drive-By Truckers just got through with one.

The CBS This Morning interview and three in-studio performances linked here will give you a pretty good idea of where they’re at right now. The only thing very different from the shows is less wildness and no booze or Black Lives Matter sign on stage.

Like Band Vs. Band, I am a partisan of DBT. If you want more, just ask.

There is that pesky “innocent until proven guilty” thingy we have here in the U.S.

Yes, we have that in the courts. But this is not a court, and we don’t have any laws in the US saying you can’t complain about something you don’t like unless a crime has been committed.

Otherwise, I could allege the writer of this blog is anything I want to allege him to be and – given the way you all think here – he’d have to be run out of town just because someone alleged it.

I think you may not be as good at interpreting how everyone here thinks as you think you are.

But you could — and can — allege whatever you want, and people would react to it as they felt appropriate. “Innocent until proven guilty” does not protect people from the consequences of their actions.

All I see is a man looking to support sci-fi fans. That he did what any good business person would do – recognize an opportunity to market his product to people who otherwise might not know about him or his book – is not a crime either.

I don’t see other businesspeople rushing to promote their work on the back of a convention acting badly enough to lose all their guests of honor, so perhaps it’s not what any good businessman would do.

But you’re right, it’s not a crime. Still, there’s that thing where people get to react to stuff even if there wasn’t a crime involved.

So lighten up people.

After all, if you don’t see anything deserving of criticism, nobody should criticize.

Or, maybe, if you’re fine with Del Arroz trying to make bank by declaring that someone refusing to attend a convention over past experience of sexual harassment from the guy who’s guest coordinator for the con, you won’t criticize, but others may not see it quite how you do.

The “Clinton Foundation” was a thinly described bribe machine for the Secretary of State and her family.

Reading 990s is not only not rocket science, it’s something any moderately financially literate person can do. Without help. Or training. Really, really easy.

So, when I hear or read things about the (insert your own insult here) Clinton Foundation, I want to slap something. Read the damned publicly available financial documents. Read them in their entirety. Then shut the hell up with your ignorant assessments of various forms of corruption.

If you want to argue the effectiveness of the Clinton Foundation, fine, because it’s a rare non-profit that can’t be better, but it’s not up for discussion about whether it’s a personal funnel for the Clinton family.

This would be in contrast to the Trump foundation, which had to tick the “yes, we have been self dealing” box recently, which is so bush league stupid that it makes my hair light on fire.

@ airboy
What SF have you read lately and what did you think of it? ( I understand that your political opinions are impervious to facts, but your literary views can be quite interesting and you actually discuss them.)

One thing I noticed 10 years ago or so is that there are a lot of american musicians and bands I’ve never heard of because they never really travelled to Europe. US is big enough country for a medium size band to survive anyhow (or maybe they haven’t got that much choice.

I listen to a lot of British folk, and for so many of those bands, my impression is that they rarely leave the UK, and more rarely still cross the Atlantic when they do. Yet they seem to make a living, and Britain is much smaller than the US.

By contrast, I know of effectively tiny bands* who have successfully crossed from the US or Canada and toured the UK and Europe. And I strongly suspect the reverse is true.

* By tiny I mean, will do house concerts for 40 people. Granted, house concerts tend to pay well per size as most hosts are doing it for a pittance (or nothing?) and the full cost goes to the performer, where even a small club will have a fee or a cut.

Right now, my religious movement, which is as progressive on issues of human rights as any religion I know, is embroiled in a controversy about how white supremacy culture influences us and shapes what we do, and about how we can successfully resist it and overcome it.

I figure most folks here who accept the idea of white supremacy culture (some don’t, and so this point is not relevant to you) would also accept the idea that an organization created under it and continually bathed in it could exhibit white supremacy culture in its operation without any white supremacists in it.

So I don’t see why those folks would boggle at the idea that an organization created under and continually bathed in a corrupt political culture, an organization which is meant to do good in the world and often succeeds in doing so, could exhibit corrupt culture in its operation without any bribes being paid to Bill or Hillary Clinton.

This is why the Democratic Party leadership, which was created under and continually bathed in a corrupt political culture, changed the rules for entry into the primary debates just as soon as Larry Lessig, who was running on a one-issue platform of opposing the corruption of politics by money, qualified to enter them.

Well, some sci-fi fans. I don’t think Del Arroz is particularly concerned with supporting those sci-fi fans who feel their safety is threatened by having a known sexual harasser on con staff–or with supporting those sci-fi fans who have actually been targeted by sexual harassment.

It’s really depressing how apologists like this quietly redefine “sci-fi fan” to exclude people like that.

Well, yes, the link is to the blog of one of the Puppy authors in the bundle, so no doubt that’s why he felt compelled to come over here and promote it. 🙄

The fact that he’s utterly ignorant of Frenkel’s lengthy, documented history of harassment is hardly surprising. Nor is the trotting out of the “not found guilty in a court of law!” defense used by Puppies for their slating.

One thing I find very interesting — I have now seen multiple authors on the “OdysseyCon/FanBundle” side who refuse to publish comments. And then they wonder, I suspect, why so many comment-available places are so strongly against them.

imnotandrei: One thing I find very interesting — I have now seen multiple authors on the “OdysseyCon/FanBundle” side who refuse to publish comments. And then they wonder, I suspect, why so many comment-available places are so strongly against them.

Yes, that Puppy policy is very telling, isn’t it? “My argument is not rational enough or strong enough to withstand critique, therefore I will refuse to allow any comments which disagree with it, thus making my argument look rock solid”. 🙄